A tornado touched down in Buffalo, New York, on Monday, and broke the state's record for the most confirmed tornadoes in a single year.
According to USA Today, the EF-1 tornado hit the west side of downtown Buffalo between 12:45 PM and 12:51 PM. According the the National Weather Service, wind speeds reached 90 mph during the storm. The twister left a damage path of 300 yards in width at its maximum, which is 6 times the average.
In a video shared to YouTube, the storm can be seen throwing debris and destroying rooftops.
While no injuries were reported, power outages covered large sects of Buffalo residents. According to National Grid, 800 customers in the area were without power after the storm. Moreover, Buffalo police and fire departments reported that traffic lights were without power as well. Between the damaged buildings, and power outages, the Buffalo Police Department has asked folks to avoid the area during clean-up efforts.
Record Setting Tornado Tears Through Buffalo in Video
New York's Governor Kathy Hochul shared on X that the state is prepared to offer resources to Buffalo as needed. Likewise, Hochul continued to warn New York residents that tropical storm Debby could impact parts of the state this week. The storm has tragically killed four people as it has hammered Florida's Big Bend coast.
Monday's Buffalo tornado follows four different EF0 and EF2 tornadoes that touched down in the state last month. Those storms all touched down in western New York on July 10th, in Eden, Arkwright, West Falls and Aurora.
The State Weather Risk Communication Center confirmed that Monday's tornado was the single-year record 26th to touch down in the state thus far. Luckily, last month's twisters, as well as Monday's in Buffalo, caused no injuries to any persons.
Monday's 26th tornado pushed 2024 passed the 25 tornadoes confirmed in 1992, for the new record. 1998 and 2011 are next in the list, with 23 confirmed tornadoes.
With the Twisters movie earning so much publicity, it is nearly fitting that records would be broken for confirmed tornadoes somewhere in the country. Who would have thought it would be New York, of all places, to make headlines for a Monday afternoon tornado.
